Mannen's Life
by Freako
Summary: After the defeat of Saihi, 12 year old Mannen's life seems normal. He goes to school, make some friends, but after he met a girl, his life turned a bit complicated.
1. First Meeting

I waited for Hajime and Shin at the garden of the Awayuki mansion restlessly. They were really late. I had been sitting like an idiot there for a whole hour now. _No matter what the reason is, being one hour late is definitely unforgivable…_ I thought, getting more and more impatient as time goes by. Finally, as if my friends had read my thoughts, they arrived looking at me apologetically. "Sorry, Mayune-neechan asked me to help her with her work. Did you just arrive?" Hajime, who was standing in front of Shin, asked. I looked at him in annoyance. "For your information, I've been waiting for you for approximately one hour, five minutes and…" I glanced at my watch, "…thirty three seconds."

"Geez, Mannen, you don't have to be so precise." Hajime said in an attempt to make me feel angrier. He always does that lately because he said facing my wrath is the only way he can be braver and more daring. Shin just gave me his usual innocent look which made me sigh. "Fine, I'll forgive you today. Anyway, what did you want to talk about?" I asked. "I just wanted to ask you to go with me to my and Shin's school to pick up some books that I left." Hajime answered. "WHAT? You should have told me that earlier!" I shouted at both of them. "Well, we knew that you would never agree, that's why…" Shin said. I guess he had a point. I would never have agreed to go with them to their school because it was so far away. Still, forcing me to go with them is wrong too.

"I can't believe you would actually force me to go with you. I shouldn't have waited for you." I muttered. Shin smiled at me and assured me that Hajime will treat me to a chocolate chip ice-cream later. Hajime gave him a weird look but he eventually agreed. They always try to bribe me with ice-creams, and unfortunately it always works. I'm nearly always broke so a treat would always make me agree to do anything, except maybe doing Goh's daily chores. Muttering a few words under my breath, I said I'll follow them to their school and warned them not to forget about the ice-cream that they promised me. "Sure thing. Come on, hurry up!" Hajime said as he pulled my hand so that I would walk faster.

On my way to Hajime and Shin's school, I saw my friends hanging around, most of them with their siblings. I always wished that I had a brother. At least I could take out my anger out on him when I'm feeling angry at Goh instead of throwing all of my possessions around my bedroom. Hajime and Shin make a pretty good substitute, though, so maybe it's not that bad. But having a real live brother is different than_ considering_ your friends as your brother. I frowned as I remembered what Goh told me when I told him this. "The Leafe Knights are your family and friends. You don't need a sibling." He said. "But that's different! Why can't Leafe Knights have any real family anyway?" I asked.

I regretted my words when I saw the expression on Goh's face. He was clearly hurt. "What do you mean 'real' family? Am I not good enough to be your older brother?" he asked me. I shook my head. "No, that's not what I meant. I said…" before I could continue, Himeno-neechan and her stupid stepsister, Mayune, entered the room. When Mayune saw me, she laughed her annoying laugh. "What do you want, Mayune?" I asked. Himeno-neechan realized that I was feeling a bit angry because they had just interrupted an important conversation. "You stupid brat… you really think that you have the rights to call me by my first name. Honestly…" she laughed again. "Well, what exactly do you want me to call you then? Grandmother Mayune?" I said on purpose. I know that the name always gets on her nerves.

Mayune was about to throw an insult at me before Himeno-neechan covered her mouth. Mayune struggled to get Himeno-neechan's hand off her mouth. "Sorry about that, Mannen, Goh. I just wanted to ask you whether you have seen my dad or not." Goh and I shook our heads, staring at Mayune's angry –and funny—face. "Well, that's alright. I just remembered that he told me that he'll be attending a meeting today. Thanks guys…OUCH!" Himeno-neechan shouted when Mayune bit her index finger. "You stupid, ugly, annoying, disrespectful…" the list went on and on as the two sisters punched and kicked each other. "Uh… I guess I'll get going then." Goh said. The only person who heard what he said was me. "Goh, sorry about just now. I really didn't mean that." I told him. Goh smiled at me and ruffled my hair. "No worries, kid." He said as he walked out. "I am not a kid! Get that through your thick skull!"

"Mannen? What are you thinking about?" Hajime asked, noticing that I was being unusually silent. I shook my head. "It's nothing. Are we there yet? We've been walking for hours!" I complained. "Minutes are more like it," Shin told me without looking at me. "Whatever. Where are we anyway?" I asked, looking at the unfamiliar buildings surrounding me. "It's a shortcut Shin found when we were late for school last week. We don't like to use it since not many people use this road, but since you are complaining about haw far it is…" I pulled a face. Hajime ignored me and continued. "… We've decided to use it. I thought you realized that. Were you thinking about your girlfriend?" he joked. My face turned scarlet out of both embarrassment and anger. "How many times do I have to tell you? I don't have a girlfriend!" I reminded him, but I doubt that he forgot about that. I'm just twelve, for goodness sake. It's too early for me to have a girlfriend.

As if Hajime had read my thoughts, the annoying ten-year-old brat grinned sheepishly. "Well, Yoshiro has a girlfriend…" I know Shin only tried to be helpful, but why did he have to say that at the very time? "Yeah! Yoshiro-san has one! What about you, Mannen? No one in mind at all?" Hajime is so similar to Goh sometimes. The subject had lasted way too long and to stop it from continuing, I punched Hajime's head. I didn't punch very hard though because I know that he'll complain if I do. Still, some people are never grateful. "That hurts, you know!" he said to me, frowning slightly. I was arguing with Hajime when Takeshi, my not-so-good friend in school, saw me and walked up to me. "Hey…" he greeted Hajime, Shin and I with a smile. "What's up, Mannen? Why are you hanging out with little kids on a Saturday morning?" he asked. I saw Hajime's cheerful attitude wavering when Takeshi said he was a little kid and he shot me a look as if saying, 'As if I'm _that_ younger than him.'

"They're not that young." I said, agreeing with Hajime's secret comment. Shin just looked at Hajime and me with a confused expression, probably wondering why I kept on glancing at him and Hajime. "Yeah, they're not that young but don't you want to hang out with someone our age?" Takeshi asked. Easy for him to say. Takeshi's a famous boy in school, and even though he's practically failing all his subjects, no one really cares anyway. It seemed like he has a new girl to hang out with every week. Honestly, I don't know how they can stand being around him. "I don't mind spending time with them" I said, wanting to end the conversation quickly. "Who are these kids anyway? Your brothers?" he laughed. He spoke of them as if they weren't even there, I noticed. "Saying that we're brothers is a bit stupid. We look nothing like each other and that's pretty obvious. And even if there are my brothers, is it a crime to hang out with them?" I snapped. Takeshi looked at me with dislike. A bit annoyed and embarrassed, he walked away from me, looking like he didn't even know me.

"I don't think he'll be talking to you anytime soon." Shin said after Takeshi was completely out of sight. "Who cares. He didn't like me from the start and so do I. Forget about him. It's not like you'll be the one who'll face problems at school when he's not talking to you anyway." I said. After walking for about five minutes, we finally arrived. "Finally…" I mumbled. "Can you go with us upstairs? I'll just get those books and then Hajime will buy you that ice-cream. I promise." Shin said. Hajime nudged him but he pretended not to notice. He didn't need to ask me to go with him. I was planning on doing that from the start. "Okay." I replied. We went up a set of stairs and went to Hajime's class. Before we could enter the class, however, a woman suddenly appeared. I was so shocked that I almost screamed, but luckily I could control myself before I did anything stupid. "You can only enter the class during school hours. It's not school hours now, so get lost." She said bluntly.

"But we walked all the way here. Just bend the rules a bit, miss." I said. The woman just smirked and shook her head. "For a little boy like you, no." she replied. Hajime and Shin had to hold me back from jumping at her out of anger. "It's okay. I'll just get it tomorrow." Hajime whispered. "How?" I asked, not bothering to lower down my voice. "I'll sneak in somehow. Let's just go." Shin tried to pull me but I wouldn't move. Not after all that tiresome walking. I was about to argue with the woman before someone spoke to me first. "Why don't you just let them through just this once, Yoko-san." The four of us looked behind and saw a girl about my age standing there, carrying about three books in her hands. "I'm afraid I can't, Misora." The woman answered, being strangely polite to Misora. Misora walked towards us and looked at me. "What do you want in there, anyway?" she asked. "My friend left some books in class yesterday. I just want to pick them up." I replied, sulky. To my surprise, Misora entered the class and that woman didn't even try to stop her.

Shortly after that, she went out of the class, carrying more books. "Here. This is it, right?" she asked. Hajime nodded and thanked her. "No problem. Hey, by any chance, did you see a kitten pass by here?" she asked. "No." Shin replied in my place. "Never mind. I suppose it wandered off again. See you later." With that, she walked away. The woman shooed us away, saying that we'd been there long enough. On the way home, I asked a question that was on my mind. "Who is that girl, anyway?" Hajime stopped to remember something. "She's our headmaster's daughter." In the end, Shin was the one who replied. "So that's why that woman was so polite to her!" I said in a grudging tone. "Funny you never met her. She goes to the same school as you do." I looked at Hajime in surprise. "Really? Wonder why I never noticed her."

4


	2. Unexpected Encounter

The next day, I woke up feeling tired, grumpy and hungry mainly because I didn't eat anything at all yesterday. Natsue, Himeno-neechan's stepmother, was trying to act like a good wife and mother again and decided that it might be a good idea to cook dinner, since it's the job of most mothers. Nobody complained because she claimed that she was a good cook. Everything was fine going to be fine… at least that's what we thought when until the kitchen suddenly exploded. Himeno-neechan, Mawata-neechan, Mayune, Shin, Hajime and I hurried to the kitchen. "MOM!" Himeno-neechan, Mayune and Mawata-neechan shouted simultaneously, rushing to their mother. "Don't worry about me, I'm okay. Sorry about that." Natsue assured her daughters. "So that means we have to worry about dinner then?" I asked, looking at the kitchen. Hajime was putting out some small fires and it was safe to say that the kitchen had been successfully destroyed. "That's not a problem. We'll just order in." Mawata-neechan said in her usual calm voice.

So we ordered in pizza but before the food arrived, I was so tired that I slept at the living room while waiting and when the food did arrive, nobody seemed to notice that I was missing from the dining table until they had completely finished the food. I guess I can't blame Goh, Kei, Sasame, Takako and Hayate because they were working and they might think I was at my friend's house or something, but the others? What about them? And here I thought that someone would actually care about me and wake me up. Someone must have been nice enough to carry me to my room, though, because when I woke up I found myself in my bed, wondering why I was there instead of downstairs eating pizza until it suddenly hit me that I must have slept through all of it. Frowning, I got out of bed and went downstairs. "Hey, what's the matter?" Sasame asked, looking at the frown that was stuck on my face. I wasn't in the mood to talk; I was in the mood to scream my head off at somebody for letting me go to bed hungry.

Sasame must have known what I was thinking about because he quickly shut up. It's a good thing he did because if he continued on talking to me, I would have exploded. I ignored him and went on walking to wherever I was heading to, which turned out to be Himeno-neechan's room. "What's the matter, Mannen? You don't look so good." Out of all the people in the house, I didn't expect her to say that. If she remembered about the little incident yesterday, she was doing a pretty good job of hiding it. "Isn't it obvious? I'm starving!" I pointed out, making it look so obvious that Himeno-neechan looked stupid not to realize that. Her smile disappeared from her face. I thought she was angry at me but I knew that she wasn't when she looked at me with concern in her eyes. "Oh, yeah… you didn't eat anything yesterday, did you? I'm really sorry about that." She apologized. At last somebody said sorry to me. Not that I expected them too, but it was quite a nice feeling to have someone apologize to you, especially if you don't have to force them to.

"It's okay. Do you have anything for me to eat?" I asked, but I already know what the answer will be. "No, my mom burnt the refrigerator yesterday, remember? Well, how about I give you some money and you go to a restaurant to have breakfast?" Himeno-neechan suggested, trying hard to make up for what she did yesterday. I quickly agreed to her suggestion, thinking that finally I could have a walk around town alone, without Hajime and Shin tagging along. "But you can't go off on your own. Why don't you go with Hajime and Shin? It's a good idea, don't you think?" She glanced at me, expecting me to say yes, but I didn't. I barely had the time to refuse before she said, "Well, since you didn't say anything, that's a yes then." She put a few dollars in my hand and rushed me out of the room, trying to stop me from arguing. All the adults are the same. They think kids can't do anything on their own when actually they can, if they're given a chance. I looked at the money in my hands. She gave me quite a lot of money, more than enough for three people to eat. I was planning on returning the money when I thought of something. It's not like I was the one who asked for it. _I guess I'll just buy myself a present…_

"Hey, can I have those?" an excited Shin asked, pointing at the fried chicken that was on the menu. "Sure, Shin. But would you please STOP kicking my leg when you're asking for something?" I asked, using my left leg to kick both of his legs away. Hajime giggled silently. I guess I could understand why they were being so happy. They rarely go out with me nowadays since I spend most of my time finishing homework at the last minute. We used to hang out a lot when we were living in Leafunia. I ordered the food and while waiting, we chatted for a while. "I'm surprised that you're not full yet. You did eat my share of the pizza, after all." I said. I still hadn't forgiven them for forgetting about me last night, and I kept reminding them about that, just to amuse myself by seeing them shifting uncomfortably in their seats. "Mannen, stop that! Alright, so I'm very, very sorry about what happened last night! Now would you please talk about something else?" Hajime said, desperate for me to change the subject. I laughed. I couldn't help it. It was obvious that they felt really bad, but that just made the urge to talk about that stronger.

"Yeah, very funny." Hajime said again as he rolled his eyes. "You can't blame me. It is your fault, isn't it?" I said, still laughing. Shin just smiled like he enjoyed seeing me happy. Hajime looked a bit relieved too, probably because I had stopped complaining about what Himeno-neechan asked me to do. I was fuming the whole time when I was on my way to the fast-food outlet. After several minutes, our food arrived. Shin and Hajime watched in amazement as I gobbled my food up. Noticing that they hadn't touched their food, I asked them what was wrong. "Huh?" Shin, at lost on what I was saying, said. "I said, why aren't you eating your food?" I asked again. "Oh… I was just looking at… never mind." He quickly said, afraid that I would be angry at him if he said that he was actually staring at me. "So, where are we going after this?" Hajime asked curiously. "You're going home." I said, wearing a very serious look on my face. Hajime frowned at me. I should have expected it, I guess. Shin might be willing to let me go off on my own, but Hajime won't. He knew that I wasn't allowed to go by myself. How can he forget? Goh reminded all three of us of it every single day without fail.

"Alright, alright. You two are coming with me, but I won't promise that I'll buy you anything." I warned them. Hajime shot me a disapproving look, but I didn't care. "It's okay. Goh gave us some money as a reward for taking care of you so we…" Shin stopped when he realized what he was saying. At first, I just looked at them with utter confusion. Slowly, it dawned on me that my so called friends had been asked to 'baby-sit' me every time I was planning on going somewhere. I was wondering how Goh seemed to know everything about what I was going to do. "I…You…How…Damn it, how could you?" I shouted. I was extremely upset with them at the time. I didn't even care when the people who were eating there peacefully stared at me. I decided that waiting for them to answer back would take too much time, so I stormed out of the place. I wasn't paying attention to what was around me, or whoever was around me, for that matter, until I bumped into someone. "Sorry." I mumbled to whoever it was. "It's okay. Hey, aren't you…?" I looked up to see Misora, the girl from yesterday. She noticed the weird expression that I was wearing on my face.

"What's the matter?" she asked. I shook my head, indicating that nothing was wrong. I was hoping that she would just leave me alone, but she didn't. "What do you want?" I asked in a strange tone. "Are you okay?" she asked again. 'I'm fine,' was what I wanted to say, but somehow my brain was working on its own. "I can't believe they did this to me!" I said that instead. In an instant, I already told her everything that was on my mind, maybe because I can't keep it to myself any longer. Misora listened quietly, which made me talk more. When I was done, I felt satisfied. After a while though, I realized that I was talking to an almost complete stranger and told her why I was so pissed off; and she hardly even knows me! I felt myself flushing into a deep shade of red. "So, where are they?" Misora asked when I suddenly stopped talking. "Who?" I asked blankly. "Hajime and Shin. You were with them, weren't you? Where did you leave them at?" It occurred to me that I had done a stupid thing when I left them at the fast-food outlet. Sure, they did something wrong, but Goh probably forced them to do that. They weren't the kind of person who'd just do anything for the sake of money.

"At the fast-food outlet. Come on." Why I asked her to come with me was a mystery to me, but she followed me anyway. When we got there, I looked at the place where Hajime, Shin and I used to be sitting, but they weren't there. "Oh no! They must have got kidnapped! What was I thinking, leaving them alone?" I said to myself. "Relax, they couldn't have gotten far. I don't think they've been kidnapped." Misora assured me. After a few minutes of searching, we finally found them loitering around the main entrance. "Mannen!" Shin, who saw me first, shouted in relief. He rushed towards me and hugged me tight. Hajime was standing behind him, mouthing something that sounds like, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it." He was looking so miserable that I forgave him, just this once. "Thanks for coming with me," I said to Misora who was smiling at me. "No problem, uh…" "Mannen." I said, introducing myself. "Nice to meet you, Mannen. I'm Misora. It's a good thing that you found them. Anyway, I have to get going. I'm already late for my piano class. See you." She waved at the three of us and ran out of the place. "So, you like her or something?" Hajime asked. "I haven't totally forgiven you, so mind your words." I replied. That made him shut up.

4


End file.
